144 Nietzschemind is put to the ultimate test. The dying Socrates triumphs over
tragedy, surmounting his fear and dread in the process. Nietzsche called
the image of the "dying Socrates," a man who is liberated from the fear
of death by knowledge and reasoning, an "emblem over the portal of
science to remind each of us of its mission, which is to make existence
appear comprehensible and thereby justified" (1,99; BT% 15). It is, of
course, comprehensible and justified only because Socrates' knowledge
was more than just empirical, naturalistic, and mimetic It did not inves-
tigate unknown states of affairs and was not goal-oriented like modern
science. When Nietzsche called knowledge a panacea, he was referring
first and foremost to the spirit of participation, which the Platonic
Socrates quite vividly brought to bear when it came to his death.
Perception, as Socrates demonstrated, is participation in a spirit that
extends beyond the empirical ego. We are always conjoined with this
spirit, but it is a matter of discovering it within ourselves and granting it
dominion over our own lifestyle to the end of our lives. Socrates called
this self-discovery of a spirit in which we participate, but which also
reaches beyond us, "having a soul all to onesel£" If we return to the
soul from this standpoint, it is not a matter of separation from the
world, or sinking into unworldly inwardness, but a link to a universal
being from which the body, as a discrete entity, separates us. As we
would say today, the soul represents objectivity and, therefore, what is
meaningful and what really holds the world together. The body and our
sensuality are merely subjective and ephemeral, devoid of essence and
thus not grounded in the worid. If we retreat into our souls, as Socrates
teaches us, we do not become unworldly. Just the opposite occurs. Until
we collect ourselves within our souls, we cannot really approach or join
the world. Plato's depiction of the death of Socrates is designed to
demonstrate that we do not die in solitude. Death is not the moment of
greatest isolation. Socrates is not alone. In the self-awareness he gains
by thinking and learning, he is assuring himself of a Being that sup-
ports him. He will continue to belong to it long after his death as an
individual.